30 Free Genogram Templates & Symbols

It is doesn’t matter whether you have an extensive extended family or just a small ordinary family, we all have at one time desired to have a detailed family tree to trace our origins and to know our relations. It is good to have a genogram for a number of reasons but the most pertinent is that of having a wholesome look at our families and their compositions both in s physical and mental sense. It is not unusual to have genograms being used for medical reasons to ascertain the inheritance of certain medical conditions. This site appreciates the need for all to have genograms and we have provided you with readily available genogram templates.

Genogram Templates

A genogram may simply refer to a household map or a track record that makes use of unique emblems to explain human relationships, any main occasions as well as characteristics of your loved ones for an extensive period of time. Genograms are mostly made use to pick up any physical or mental ailments that run in the family. These include conditions such as depressive disorders or melanomas as well as other anatomical disorders just to name a few. We have a couple of genogram examples and you are free to check any of these.

Genogram Examples

In order to come up with a genogram you first need to meet with your respective family members. For subsequent steps you can use a normal genogram signs or genogram symbols to come up with a plan of your loved ones exact background. By having a genogram you will accrue benefits such as having better family relationships and it will also be a good way for you to amicably settle any ambiguity existing between you and your family members. By having a genogram you will have created moments of happiness in your family in the future. It can also be a good way of helping you to set your personal goals in life and this will also have a positive impact on your professional career.

Creating MS Word family genogram templates

These tips will be quite handy if you are creating genograms using Microsoft Word. They include the following:

You first need to figure out why you are making a genogram. The reason for this will help you in concentrating on nature of your family member’s data that you wish to collect. It is good to note that at times it will be prudent to be choosy on whom you wish to discuss with your final genogram diagram, some members of your family might be a bit uncomfortable with the whole idea. This can be attributed to a distressing nature of the information or even simply the sensitivity of the information.

Genograms can focus on many hereditary patterns and other issues such as drug or substance abuse, forms of mental illness as well as physical violence and other physical illnesses. This provides you with a wide range of choices on the purpose of your genogram.

It is also good to note that genograms can provide health care workers with a visual document that will help you to track the history of a current medical problems or mental illness. It is possible that this could be running in your family bloodline.

You also need to comprehend what you are looking for. After figuring out the purpose for your genogram, this could be for healthcare provider or just a school project, it is good to think about what you want to learn from the genogram. This provides a good platform of knowing what to major on in your genogram to realize your envisioned pattern or to note deviations from what you expected. It is worth noting that genograms are very similar to family trees. What they have in addition to what’s available on the family tree is the addition of some branches. This implies that apart from knowing what position you are in your family you will also be able to tell from the genogram the physical as well as the mental traits of certain members in your family.

From a genogram you can be able to figure who are the people who are currently married, the ones who have divorced or the widowed members as well as the number of children in each union. The genogram will also elaborate the physical as well as the physical state of the children and the relationship between the various members and this will be across all the levels.

You also need to ponder about what kind of information you want to access from your genogram in terms of the health of your relations. This could range from those member in your family who have depression, any addictions or a history of cancer.

The information being sort could also simply be that of letting you in on how your father or mother related to their father or mother. Knowing this kind of information in advance will help you to gather a lot before collecting the information.

One also has to know the age range that they want to deal with and thus symbolize in the genogram. You could alternatively use the number of generations that you wish to capture in your genogram. This will help you to know the number of people that you will need to meet in your family with respect to the age range that you have settled on. The people within the chosen age range should be able to provide you with adequate information that will help meet the purpose of your genogram.

Thanks to the readily available online resources you can be able to obtain information by use of emails, Skype or any other social media platform as you deem fit. These means will enable to get to members of your family who are far away or who can’t create time to meet you in person.

By knowing how many generations you wish your genogram to cover you will also be able to make the whole process to be easy and fast at the same time. This will also give you an idea of the right people to approach.

The next step is to come up with a set of questions that you will answer by yourself or with the help of your relatives. What you intend to capture in your genogram will guide you in coming up with the right questions. These questions should help you to get adequate information for your family tree template.

You need to review your genealogy. It will be wise to write or note down what you know about in the earlier stages. After exhausting your personal knowledge of the family you need to consult with the other household members. It is also good to know of any existing family members interactions and any significant occasions held before. Make sure that the information that you have gathered is sufficient. You can have questions to guide in gathering information and you also need to take good notes. While these questions might be helpful, they should not limit what you need to inquire from your family members, just by listening to their stories you can capture information that you had not intended to or not anticipated. It is good to note that not all members will be comfortable with the idea of holding discussions mainly targeting on physical and mental relations with other family members and this should guide you in your choice of informants.

You can also check from your family records or books and documents as well as the internet for appropriate family information. The information from these other sources should supplement what you have obtained and you could also learn of stuff that some members are unwilling to reveal. These sources can also be a good way of cross checking the information that you have obtained from the interviews with various members of your family. The accuracy of the information from books or family documents needs to be ascertained before you can solely rely on it.

You also need to look at your own history. Your personal records can give you clues on what information you want to obtain from your genogram. Information contained in your medical records can be especially valuable. You can also confirm whether other members of your family are using these medications or if they have similar conditions to what you are having.

You also need to learn about your familial relations. Before creating a genogram it is paramount that you acquaint yourself with the way different people in your family are connected. You need to research about the unions between different members in your family. It is good to be mindful of the kind of questions that you ask your relatives as some members might not be comfortable with some of them just as alluded to earlier on.

After doing the above you need to create your genogram. If you have any difficulties doing this you can make use of many online genogram templates that are readily available at the click of the button. We have easy to use and suitable free genogram templates that you can make use to ease your work. This will be quite convenient for you and you will end up saving on time and money. You can choose to complete the templates while you are still online or you can fill it in manually after downloading it. Apart from this it is also good to note that there are other software packages that you could use to create genograms.

It is recommended that you make use of the conventional genogram symbols or signs to represent members of your family. This should also apply to the associations between different family members, be it structural or typical. You need to settle on suitable signs since these will act as the visible indications of your information as well as the facts collected in the meetings that you will hold. One can also sketch the typical genogram symbols manually or you can make use of the ‘draw’ or ‘shapes’ option in MS Word.

You need to set up a graph or a chart with respect to the family associations and you should start with the oldest era and then move down the ladder. For example a genogram can start with the grandparents being at the top or you can even start with your great grandparents. The genogram will help you to bring out the multiplicity in your family in terms of interactions as well as presence of certain ailments.

Then try to identify any patterns of behaviors or ailments. After you have built a complete genogram, you need to proceed on and pick out any behaviors that are easily recognized. Be sure to find out about any genetic signs that might be in existence or any specific mental traits that are quite vivid in the family particularly among certain family members.

The above information should enable you to come up with a good genogram. You can have a look at the genogram examples on this site to get a drift of what has been discussed. If you have trouble coming up with a genogram you can use our free genogram templates to ease your work.